a. History: Sudden Severe Headache
Differential Diagnosis
Most common causes | Less commonly causes | Uncommonly causes |
Subarachnoid hemorrhage | Cerebral infection (eg, meningitis, acute complicated sinusitis) | Pituitary apoplexy |
Reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndromes (RCVS) | Cerebral venous thrombosis | Colloid cyst of the third ventricle |
Cervical artery dissection | Aortic arch dissection | |
Spontaneous intracranial hypotension | Aqueductal stenosis | |
Acute hypertensive crisis | Brain tumor | |
Posterior reversible leukoencephalopathy syndrome (PRES) | Giant cell arteritis | |
Intracerebral hemorrhage | Pheochromocytoma | |
Ischemic stroke | Pneumocephalus | |
Retroclival hematoma | ||
Spinal epidural hematoma | ||
Varicella zoster virus vasculopathy | ||
Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome |
Next Pivotal Assessment | Findings | |
---|---|---|
CT without Contrast |
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage |
Intracerebral Hemorrhage |